Gujarat drops idea of including Narendra Modi's life in school syllabus

By PTI |Posted 30-May-2014

Gandhinagar: With the Prime Minister expressing displeasure over the move, Gujarat government today dropped the idea of incorporating the story of Narendra Modi's life in school syllabus across the state.

After receiving a call from Modi at around 7 AM, State Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama dropped the idea of teaching Modi's life to schools kids. "Narendrabhai called me this morning and told me that it is not appropriate to include life and events of a living person in the school syllabus. He was not happy with the idea of teaching his life in primary schools. He asked us not to go ahead with that project," Chudasama told reporters. "I told Narendrabhai that his wish shall be kept. I assured him that the state government will not go ahead with the project," he said.

Modi opposed the decision in a tweet saying, "I firmly believe that the life story of living individuals should not be included as a part of the school curriculum. "I am reading in the news that some states want to include Narendra Modi's life struggles as a part of their school curriculum," the Prime Minister said.

Yesterday, Chudasama had announced that important chapters of Modi's life will be included in the syllabus of primary schools to teach leadership skills to the next generation. "The chapters may include events starting from his birth, his humble family background, school days, how he faced struggle at different stages of his life and what are the circumstances behind his decision to become a monk," the Gujarat Education Minister had said.

He had said that selected important and inspiring events which took place until Modi became prime minister would be included and a process has been initiated to form a committee to prepare the final list of events to be included.